how long was bill wilson sober?

Yet Wilsons sincere belief that people in an abstinence-only addiction recovery program could benefit from using a psychedelic drug was a contradiction that A.A. leadership did not want to entertain. We tried to help other alcoholics, with no thought of reward in money or prestige. )[38] According to Wilson, the session allowed him to re-experience a spontaneous spiritual experience he had had years before, which had enabled him to overcome his own alcoholism. [19] Thacher also attained periodic sobriety in later years and died sober. [22], When Ebby Thacher visited Wilson at his New York apartment and told him "he had got religion," Wilson's heart sank. The Oxford Group was a Christian fellowship founded by American Christian missionary Frank Buchman. [8], Wilson met his wife Lois Burnham during the summer of 1913, while sailing on Vermont's Emerald Lake; two years later the couple became engaged. Although he was often dead drunk during work hours, he had quite a bit of success sizing up companies for potential investors. [48], Wilson has often been described as having loved being the center of attention, but after the AA principle of anonymity had become established, he refused an honorary degree from Yale University and refused to allow his picture, even from the back, on the cover of Time. If, therefore, under LSD we can have a temporary reduction, so that we can better see what we are and where we are going well, that might be of some help. [52] The book they wrote, Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story Of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism (the Big Book), is the "basic text" for AA members on how to stay sober, and it is from the title of this book that the group got its name. Thacher returned a few days later bringing with him Shep Cornell, another Oxford Group member who was aggressive in his tactics of promoting the Oxford Group Program, but despite their efforts Wilson continued to drink. Recent LSD studies suggest this ego dissolution occurs because it temporarily quells activity in the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain responsible for executive functioning and sense of self. which of the following best describes a mission statement? Aeolus and had a spiritual experience and never drank alcohol again. Did Bill Dotson stay sober? But I was wrong! Morgan R., recently released from an asylum, contacted his friend Gabriel Heatter, host of popular radio program We the People, to promote his newly found recovery through AA. See digital copy on the Internet Archive. In one study conducted in the late 1950s, Humphrey Osmond, an early LSD researcher, gave LSD to alcoholics who had failed to quit drinking. After receiving an offer from Harper & Brothers to publish the book, early New-York member Hank P., whose story The Unbeliever appears in the first edition of the "Big Book", convinced Wilson they should retain control over the book by publishing it themselves. BILLINGS - The Montana Senate approved a bill seeking to regulate sober-living homes this week, bringing the measure one step closer to becoming law. We can be open-minded toward all such efforts, and we can be sympathetic when the ill-advised ones fail., In 1959, he wrote to a close friend, the LSD business has created some commotion The story is Bill takes one pill to see God and another to quiet his nerves.. Sober alcoholics could show drinking alcoholics that it was possible to enjoy life without alcohol, thus inspiring a spiritual conversion that would help ensure sobriety. Bill W.'s partner in founding A.A. was a pretty sharp guy. James's belief concerning alcoholism was that "the cure for dipsomania was religiomania".[29]. how long was bill wilson sober? Let's take a look at a few things you might not know about the man who valued his anonymity so highly. That process usually lasted three days according to Bill. [72] Wilson also saw anonymity as a principle that would prevent members from indulging in ego desires that might actually lead them to drink again hence Tradition Twelve, which made anonymity the spiritual core of all the AA traditions, ie the AA guidelines. We know this from Wilson, whose intractable depression was alleviated after taking LSD; his beliefs in the power of the drug are documented in his many writings. Only then could the alcoholic use the other "medicine" Wilson had to give the ethical principles he had picked up from the Oxford Groups.[32]. Wilson was elated to find that he suffered from an illness, and he managed to stay off alcohol for a month before he resumed drinking. 2001 Fourth Edition of the Big Book released; estimated 2,000,000 or more members in 100,800 groups meeting in approximately 150 countries around the world. Silkworth's theory was that alcoholism was a matter of both physical and mental control: a craving, the manifestation of a physical allergy (the physical inability to stop drinking once started) and an obsession of the mind (to take the first drink). LSDs origin story is lore in its own right. At Towns Hospital under Silkworth's care, Wilson was administered a drug cure concocted by Charles B. In 1939, Wilson and Marty Mann visited High Watch Farm in Kent, CT. When Wilson had begun to work on the book, and as financial difficulties were encountered, the first two chapters, Bill's Story and There Is a Solution were printed to help raise money. [63] He wrote the Twelve Steps one night while lying in bed, which he felt was the best place to think. Thacher visited Wilson at Towns Hospital and introduced him to the basic tenets of the Oxford Group and to the book Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), by American psychologist and philosopher William James. After many difficult years during his early-mid teens, Bill became the captain of his high school's football team, and the principal violinist in its orchestra. [57], The band El Ten Eleven's song "Thanks Bill" is dedicated to Bill W. since lead singer Kristian Dunn's wife got sober due to AA. More than 40 years ago, Wilson learned what many in the scientific community are only beginning to understand: Mind-altering drugs are not always antithetical to sobriety. Bill W. did almost get a law degree after all, though. "[39] Wilson felt that regular usage of LSD in a carefully controlled, structured setting would be beneficial for many recovering alcoholics. Even with a broader definition of God than organized religion prescribed, Wilson knew the spiritual experience part of the Program would be an obstacle for many. He would come to believe LSD might offer other alcoholics the spiritual experience they needed to kickstart their sobriety but before that, he had to do it himself. [9] The Oxford Group writers sometimes treated sin as a disease. He judged that the reports were traceable to a single person, Tom Powers, a formerly close friend of Wilson's with whom he had a falling-out in the mid-1950s.[37]. Some postulate the chapter appears to hold the wife responsible for her alcoholic husband's emotional stability once he has quit drinking. An ever-growing body of research suggests psychedelics and other mind-altering drugs can alleviate depression and substance use disorders. The Akron Oxford Group and the New York Oxford Group had two very different attitudes toward the alcoholics in their midst. Rockefeller. [27] In 1946, he wrote "No AA group or members should ever, in such a way as to implicate AA, express any opinion on outside controversial issues particularly those of politics, alcohol reform or sectarian religion. Peter Armstrong. The AA Service Manual/Twelve Concepts for World Service (BM-31). Because in addition to his alcohol addiction, Wilson lived with intractable depression. Its August 29, 1956. [41], In 1957, Wilson wrote a letter to Heard saying: "I am certain that the LSD experiment has helped me very much. When Hazard ended treatment with Jung after about a year, and came back to the USA, he soon resumed drinking, and returned to Jung in Zurich for further treatment. Robert Holbrook Smith was a Dartmouh-educated surgeon who is now remembered by millions of recovering alcoholics as "Dr. Instead, he agreed to contribute $5,000 in $30 weekly increments for Wilson and Smith to use for personal expenses. For 17 years Smith's daily routine was to stay sober until the afternoon, get drunk, sleep, then take sedatives to calm his morning jitters. engrosamiento mucoso etmoidal. I find myself with a heightened colour perception and an appreciation of beauty almost destroyed by my years of depressions." adding a driver to insurance geico; fine line tattoo sleeve; scott forbes unc baseball +201205179999. But as everyone drank hard, not too much was made of that."[13]. His paternal grandfather, William C. Wilson, was also an alcoholic. Its important to note that during this period, Wilson was sober. Research suggests ego death may be a crucial component of psychedelic drugs antidepressant effects. To do this they would first approach the man's wife, and later they would approach the individual directly by going to his home or by inviting him to the Smiths' home. [28][29], During the last years of his life, Wilson rarely attended AA meetings to avoid being asked to speak as the co-founder rather than as an alcoholic. Their break was not from a need to be free of the Oxford Group; it was an action taken to show solidarity with their brethren in New York. [11] Smith's last drink was on June 10, 1935 (a beer to steady his hand for surgery), and this is considered by AA members to be the founding date of AA. Also known as deadly nightshade, belladonna is an extremely toxic hallucinogenic. Huxley wrote about his own experiences on mescaline in The Doors of Perception about twenty years after he wrote Brave New World. [66], Wilson kept track of the people whose personal stories were featured in the first edition of the Big Book. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson (known as Bill W.) and Robert Smith (known as Dr. Bob), and has since grown to be worldwide. A. In order to identify each other, members of AA will sometimes ask others if they are "friends of Bill". It was while undergoing this treatment that Wilson experienced his "Hot Flash" spiritual conversion. Oxford Group members believed the Wilsons' sole focus on alcoholics caused them to ignore what else they could be doing for the Oxford Group. Wilson later wrote that he found the Oxford Group aggressive in their evangelism. A philosopher, a psychiatrist, and his research assistant watch as the most famous recovering alcoholic puts a dose of LSD in his mouth and swallows. After the experience, the ego that reasserts itself has a profound sense of its own and the worlds spiritual essence. He and his wife Lois even traveled around the country throughout the 1920s looking for prime investment opportunities in small companies. how long was bill wilson sober? I thought I knew how Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, got sober back in December 1934.. By a one-vote margin, they agreed to Wilson's writing a book, but they refused any financial support of his venture.[45][47]. Silkworth believed Wilson was making a mistake by telling new converts of his "Hot Flash" conversion and thus trying to apply the Oxford Group's principles. Early in his career, he was fascinated by studies of LSD as a treatment for alcoholism done in the mid-twentieth century. Within a week, Bill Dotson was back in court, sober, and arguing a case. This page was last edited on 23 January 2023, at 10:37. [16] However, Wilson's constant drinking made business impossible and ruined his reputation. Those who could afford psychiatrists or hospitals were subjected to a treatment with barbiturate and belladonna known as "purge and puke"[4] or were left in long-term asylum treatment. (The letter was not in fact sent as Jung had died. In 1956, Wilson traveled to Los Angeles to take LSD under the supervision of Cohen and Heard at the VA Hospital. Pass It On explains: As word of Bills activities reached the Fellowship, there were inevitable repercussions. The transaction left Hank resentful, and later he accused Wilson of profiting from Big Book royalties, something that Cleveland AA group founder Clarence S. also seriously questioned. After that summer in Akron, Wilson returned to New York where he began having success helping alcoholics in what they called "a nameless squad of drunks" in an Oxford Group there. When Bill W. was a young man, he planned on becoming a lawyer, but his drinking soon got in the way of that dream. Sober being sane and happy Bill Wilson - catcher - died on 1924-05-09. Buchman was a minister, originally Lutheran, then Evangelist, who had a conversion experience in 1908 in a chapel in Keswick, England, the revival center of the Higher Life movement. He "prayed for guidance" prior to writing, and in reviewing what he had written and numbering the new steps, he found they added up to twelve. He opened a medical practice and married, but his drinking put his business and family life in jeopardy. . Don't mind if I drink my gin.'" The goal might become clearer. Theres this attitude that all drugs are bad, except you can have as many cigarettes and as much caffeine and as many doughnuts as you want.. The Bible's Book of James became an important inspiration for Smith and the alcoholics of the Akron group. If it had worked, however, I would have gladly kept up with the treatments. Though not a single one of the alcoholics Wilson tried to help stayed sober,[31] Wilson himself stayed sober. Press coverage helped, as did Bill Wilson's 1939 book Alcoholics Anonymous, which presented the famous Twelve Steps - a cornerstone of A.A. and one of the most significant spiritual/therapeutic concepts ever created. There both men made plans to take their message of recovery on the road. She also tried to help many of the alcoholics that came to live with them. But you had better hang on to it".[23]. [3] In 1955 Wilson turned over control of AA to a board of trustees. 1, the song "Hey, Hey, AA" references Bill's encounter with Ebby Thatcher which started him on the path to recovery and eventually the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous. [8] William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 January 24, 1971), also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). During this period, however, Smith returned to drinking while attending a medical convention. [34] Hartigan also asserts that this relationship was preceded by other marital infidelities. So they can get people perhaps out of some stuck constrained rhythm, he says. I find myself with a heightened color perception and an appreciation of beauty almost destroyed by my years of depression The sensation that the partition between here and there has become very thin is constantly with me.. But at first his wife was doubtful. At 3:40 p.m. he said he thought people shouldnt take themselves so damn seriously. But I dont know if I would have been as open about it as Wilson was. In Hartigans biography of Wilson, he writes: Bill did not see any conflict between science and medicine and religion He thought ego was a necessary barrier between the human and the infinite, but when something caused it to give way temporarily, a mystical experience could result. We confessed or shared our shortcomings with another person in confidence. 1955 Second Edition of the Big Book released; estimated 150,000 AA members. Instead, he gave Bill W. and Dr. Bob $30 apiece each week to keep A.A. up and running. According to the Oxford Group, Wilson quit; according to Lois Wilson, they "were kicked out." [71], Originally, anonymity was practiced as a result of the experimental nature of the fellowship and to protect members from the stigma of being seen as alcoholics. Silkworth believed that alcoholics were suffering from a mental obsession, combined with an allergy that made compulsive drinking inevitable, and to break the cycle one had to completely abstain from alcohol use. [39], Two realizations came from Wilson and Smith's work in Akron. Thus a new prospect underwent many visits around the clock with members of the Akron team and undertook many prayer sessions, as well as listening to Smith cite the medical facts about alcoholism. In addition, 24% of the participants were sober 1-5 years while 13% were sober 5-10 years. Jung told Hazard that his case was nearly hopeless (as with other alcoholics) and that his only hope might be a "spiritual conversion" with a "religious group". [1] As a result, penitent bands have often been compared to Alcoholics Anonymous in scholarly discourse.[2]. He then asked for his diploma, but the school said he would have to attend a commencement ceremony if he wanted his sheepskin. Later they found that he had stolen and sold off their best clothes. He thought he might have found something that could make a big difference to the lives of many who still suffered. [31] While notes written by nurse James Dannenberg say that Bill Wilson asked for whiskey four times (December 25, 1970, January 2, 1971, January 8, 1971, and January 14, 1971) in his final month of living, he drank no alcohol for the final 36 years of his life. By 1940, Wilson and the Trustees of the Foundation decided that the Big Book should belong to AA, so they issued some preferred shares, and with a loan from the Rockefellers they were able to call in the original shares at par value of $25 each. I stood in the sunlight at last. [65], Many of the chapters in the Big Book were written by Wilson, including Chapter 8, To Wives. Betty Eisner was a research assistant for Cohen and became friendly with Wilson over the course of his treatment. The backlash against LSD and other drugs reached a fever pitch by the mid-1960s. Two hundred shares were sold for $5,000 ($79,000 in 2008 dollar value)[56] at $25 each ($395 in 2008 value), and they received a loan from Charlie Towns for $2,500 ($40,000 in 2008 value). Close top bar. Wilson also believed that niacin had given him relief from depression, and he promoted the vitamin within the AA community and with the National Institute of Mental Health as a treatment for schizophrenia. The title of the book Wilson wrote is Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story Of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism but it is referred to by AA members as "the Big Book". As a teen, Bill showed little interest in his academic studies and was rebellious. As it turns out, emotional sobriety is Bill Wilson's fourth legacy. After some time he developed the "Big Book . It also may be why so few people know about Wilsons relationship with LSD. At 1:00 pm Bill reported a feeling of peace. At 2:31 p.m. he was even happier. While he was a student at Dartmouth College, Smith started drinking heavily and later almost failed to graduate from medical school because of it. Bill says, 'Fine, you're a friend of mine. by | Jun 10, 2022 | fortnite founders pack code xbox | cowie clan scotland | Jun 10, 2022 | fortnite founders pack code xbox | cowie clan scotland [9] Because no one would take responsibility, and no one would identify the perpetrators, the entire class was punished. The movement itself took on the name of the book. Bob was through with the sauce, too. Bill Wilson's enthusiasm for LSD as a tool in twelve-step work is best expressed in his correspondence in 1961 with the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. This system might have helped ease the symptoms of withdrawal, but it played all sorts of havoc on the patient's guts. Wilson joined the Oxford Group and tried to help other alcoholics, but succeeded only in keeping sober himself. His flirtations and his adulterous behavior filled him with guilt, according to old-timers close to him, but he continued to stray off the reservation." (Getting Better, Nan Robertson, p. 36) Also like Wilson, it wasnt enough to treat my depression. Who got Bill Wilson sober? With Wilson's invitation, his wife Lois, his spiritual adviser Father Ed Dowling, and Nell Wing also participated in experimentation of this drug. Message Reached the World. pp. He insisted again and again that he was just an ordinary man". As these members saw it, Bills seeking outside help was tantamount to saying the A.A. program didnt work.. Smith was so impressed with Wilson's knowledge of alcoholism and ability to share from his own experience, however, that their discussion lasted six hours. Since its beginnings in 1935, the success of Alcoholics Anonymous has sparked interest. It was James's theory that spiritual transformations come from calamities, and their source lies in pain and hopelessness, and surrender. Wilson stopped the practice in 1936 when he saw that it did little to help alcoholics recover. Ross stresses that more studies need to be done to really understand how well drugs like psilocybin and LSD treat addiction. His experience would fundamentally transform his outlook on recovery, horrify A.A. leadership, and disappoint hundreds of thousands who had credited him with saving their lives. [53], At first there was no success in selling the shares, but eventually Wilson and Hank obtained what they considered to be a promise from Reader's Digest to do a story about the book once it was completed. [30] A heavy smoker, Wilson eventually suffered from emphysema and later pneumonia. [44][45], At the end of 1937, after the New York separation from the Oxford Group, Wilson returned to Akron, where he and Smith calculated their early success rate to be about five percent. Bill Wilson achieved success through being the "anonymous celebrity.". situs link alternatif kamislot how long was bill wilson sober? With James Woods, JoBeth Williams, James Garner, Gary Sinise. Wilson bought a house that he and Lois called Stepping Stones on an 8-acre (3ha) estate in Katonah, New York, in 1941, and he lived there with Lois until he died in 1971. The objective was to get the man to "surrender", and the surrender involved a confession of "powerlessness" and a prayer that said the man believed in a "higher power" and that he could be "restored to sanity". They believed active alcoholics were in a state of insanity rather than a state of sin, an idea they developed independently of the Oxford Group. Anything at all! There Wilson socialized after the meetings with other ex-drinking Oxford Group members and became interested in learning how to help other alcoholics achieve sobriety. Trials with LSDs chemical cousin psilocybin have demonstrated similar success. Later Wilson wrote to Carl Jung, praising the results and recommending it as validation of Jung's spiritual experience. The following year he was commissioned as an artillery officer. More revealingly, Ebby referred to his periods of sobriety as, "being on the wagon." Aldous Huxley addressing the University of California conference on "A Pharmacological Approach to the Study of the Mind.. This came to be known as the Oxford Group by 1928. After leaving law school without an actual diploma, Bill W. went to work on Wall Street as a sort of speculative consultant to brokerage houses. Wilson and Smith believed that until a man had "surrendered", he couldn't attend the Oxford Group meetings. Norman Sheppard directed him to Oxford Group member Henrietta Seiberling, whose group had been trying to help a desperate alcoholic named Dr Bob Smith. When A.A. was founded in 1935, the founders argued that alcoholism is an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer. While many now argue science doesnt support the idea that addiction is a disease and that this concept stigmatizes people with addiction, back then calling alcoholism a disease was radical and compassionate; it was an affliction rooted in biology as opposed to morality, and it was possible to recover. Yet, particularly during his sober decades in AA in the forties, fifties and sixties, Bill Wilson was a compulsive womanizer. [67], Initially the Big Book did not sell. [12][13][14], Back in America,, Hazard went to the Oxford Group, whose teachings were eventually the source of such AA concepts as "meetings" and "sharing" (public confession), making "restitution", "rigorous honesty" and "surrendering one's will and life to God's care". In their house they had a "spook room" where they would invite guests to participate in seances using a Ouija board. "[22] He then had the sensation of a bright light, a feeling of ecstasy, and a new serenity. 5000 copies sat in the warehouse, and Works Publishing was nearly bankrupt. Because LSD produced hallucinations, two other researchers, Abram Hoffer and Humphrey Osmond, theorized it might provide some insight into delirium tremens a form of alcohol withdrawal so profound it can induce violent shaking and hallucinations. Using principles he had learned from the Oxford Group, Wilson tried to remain cordial and supportive to both men. [9], In 1931, Rowland Hazard, an American business executive, went to Zurich, Switzerland to seek treatment for alcoholism with psychiatrist Carl Jung. On Wilson's first stay at Towns Hospital, Silkworth explained to him his theory that alcoholism is an illness rather than a moral failure or failure of willpower. The Smith family home in Akron became a center for alcoholics. Bill refused. [50], Wilson is perhaps best known as a synthesizer of ideas,[51] the man who pulled together various threads of psychology, theology, and democracy into a workable and life-saving system. "That is, people say he died, but he really didn't," wrote Bill Wilson. Bill Wilson was an alcoholic who had ruined a promising career on Wall Street by his drinking. In post-Prohibition 1930s America, it was common to perceive alcoholism as a moral failing, and the medical profession standards of the time treated it as a condition that was likely incurable and lethal. [24] Wilson and Smith began working with other alcoholics. [21] According to Wilson, while lying in bed depressed and despairing, he cried out, "I'll do anything! The lyric reads, "Ebby T. comes strolling in. The Akron Oxford members welcomed alcoholics into their group and did not use them to attract new members, nor did they urge new members to quit smoking as everyone was in New-York's Group; and Akron's alcoholics did not meet separately from the Oxford Group. [35] Wilson arranged in 1963 to leave 10 percent of his book royalties to Helen Wynn and the rest to his wife Lois. [53] Wilson's self-description was a man who, "because of his bitter experience, discovered, slowly and through a conversion experience, a system of behavior and a series of actions that work for alcoholics who want to stop drinking.". By the time the man millions affectionately call Bill W. dropped acid, hed been sober for more than two decades. In the 1930s, alcoholics were seen as fundamentally weak sinners beyond redemption. Wilson was astounded to find that Thacher had been sober for several weeks under the guidance of the evangelical Christian Oxford Group. He then thought of the Twelve Apostles and became convinced that the program should have twelve steps. Instead, he's remembered as Bill W., the humble, private man who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous during the 1930s. She reports having great difficulty in seeing herself as an "alcoholic," but after some slips she got sober in early 1938. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one. Rockefeller, though, was quite taken with the A.A. and pledged enough financial support to help publish a book in which members described how they'd stayed on the wagon. While Wilson later broke from The Oxford Group, he based the structure of Alcoholics Anonymous and many of the ideas that formed the foundation of AA's suggested 12-step program on the teachings of the Oxford Group. [45] Despite his conviction that he had evidence for the reality of the spirit world, Wilson chose not to share this with AA. Jul 9, 2010 TIME called William Wilson one of the top heroes and icons of the 20th century, but hardly anyone knows him by that name. The Man On The Bed - Bill Dotson, AA Member #3. 370371. Hank agreed to the arrangement after some prodding from Wilson. He believed that if this message were told to them by another alcoholic, it would break down their ego. They would go on to found what is now High Watch Recovery Center,[25] the world's first alcohol and addiction recovery center founded on Twelve Step principles. Eventually, though, the stock market collapsed in 1929, and once the money stopped rolling in bankers had little incentive to tolerate the antics of their drunken speculator. 163165. Like Wilson, I was able to get sober thanks to the 12-step program he co-created. But to recover, the founders believed, alcoholics still needed to believe in a Higher Power outside themselves they could turn to in trying times. During his stay at the Smith home, Wilson joined Smith and his wife in the Oxford Group's practice of "morning guidance" sessions with meditations and Bible readings. Are we making the most of Alcoholics Anonymous? The two founders of A.A., one of which was Wilson, met in the Oxford Group. Over the past decade or so, research has slowly picked up again, with Stephen Ross as a leading researcher in the field. After his third admission, he got the belladonna cure, a treatment made from a compound extracted from the berries of the Atropa belladonna bush. He called phone numbers in a church directory and eventually secured an introduction to Bob Smith, an alcoholic Oxford Group member. Bill Wilson died of emphysema and pneumonia in 1971. We prayed to whatever God we thought there was for power to practice these precepts. The book was given the title Alcoholics Anonymous and included the list of suggested activities for spiritual growth known as the Twelve Steps. At 3:15 p.m. he felt an enormous enlargement of everything around him. Some of what Wilson proposed violated the spiritual principles they were practicing in the Oxford Group. Early on in his transformation from lonely alcoholic to the humble leader, Wilson wrote and developed the 12 Traditions and 12 Steps, which ultimately developed as the core piece of thought behind Alcoholics Anonymous.